


The Start of the Year

by ZuviosGemini



Series: Cybertron University [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Humanformers, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2014-05-27
Packaged: 2018-01-26 17:09:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1695977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZuviosGemini/pseuds/ZuviosGemini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being a freshman on a big campus can be daunting, but Bumblebee quickly makes friends, and accidentally gets a crush on one of them. Not a bad start in his opinion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Start of the Year

**Author's Note:**

> The unofficial/sort of official part one of this series. It was supposed to start here but I wrote that MegaOP part first. ^^;
> 
> Almost all the character designs in this one come from the TFA canon (see the 2 part episode "Human Error"), but I changed Prowl's appearance because we can't have a cop-looking guy hanging around with a bunch of college students haha.

Bumblebee sighed and looked at his campus map again. Only he would get this lost on his first day. He looked around at the other students roaming around, didn’t see any Freshmen from orientation, and sighed again.

“You look a little lost.” A voice said and he jumped. Turning around, he saw one of the coolest people he had ever seen in his life looking at him. The guy was dressed in a white shirt with a black jacket on top and black straight leg jeans ending in black pointed toe boots. The entire modern-day greaser ensemble was completed by the dark sunglasses on his mocha skinned face and his styled ebony hair.

Bumblebee thanked whatever God was up there that he was black because he was most assuredly blushing. The irritating phrase ‘oh no he’s hot’ flashed through his head before he smiled.

“That's because I am.” He admitted, scratching the back of his head, making his yellow hat shift a bit on his head. “I thought the map would be enough but… it isn’t.”

The taller male reached for Bumblebee’s schedule and looked it over.

“I know where this class is because I took it last year. I can show you if you want.” He said, handing the schedule back. He hadn’t smiled even once and Bumblebee still nodded eagerly.

“I’d appreciate it, yeah!” He said. Without another word, the other male took off with his hands in his pockets, forcing Bumblebee to jog to keep up with his long strides. On the way there, greaser guy pulled a lollipop from his jacket pocket and unwrapped it, sticking it in his mouth. Just when Bumblebee thought this dude couldn’t get any cooler…

They arrived at Bumblebee’s class just as the door was closing. Greaser guy caught it and held it open, poker face expression in place. Bumblebee smiled at him.

“Thanks for the help.” He said.

“No problem.” Guy said breezily before heading back down the hallway. Bumblebee hurried to his seat, remembering too late that he hadn’t asked the guy for his name.

[][][][][]

Bumblebee ended up being able to find the rest of his classes on his own, given that they were all in about the same place. He was proud of himself at the end of the day and decided to treat himself to a burger. He walked the short distance to the nearest burger joint and got in line. After he had gotten his food, he looked around for a place to sit and to his surprise, he spotted greaser guy sitting in the back. He still had his shades on but he had taken his jacket off.

Feeling bold, Bumblebee approached him, waiting until he looked up to smile.

“This seat taken?” He said. Greaser guy finished chewing before speaking.

“You’re the freshman from this morning.”

“Bumblebee, yeah.”

Greaser guy kind of bobbed his head and motioned vaguely. Bumblebee assumed it meant sit, so he did.

“I didn’t get your name earlier.”

“I didn’t give it.”

Greaser guy’s quick response threw Bumblebee and he blinked at him. Well that was… rude.

“I’m Prowl.”

Bumblebee blinked again, the name matching the other student perfectly in his head.

“I’m a sophomore this year.” Prowl continued, reaching across the table and taking one of Bumblebee’s fries. The younger student didn’t really mind. He was almost full anyway.

When he was finished, he followed Prowl outside, stopping short when he saw Prowl approach a slick-looking motorcycle. Prowl took off his sunglasses and picked up the helmet, putting it on. Bumblebee snapped out of it even as he kept staring.

“WHOA, is this yours?” He exclaimed. Prowl looked at him, his light brown eyes amused.

“No, I’m stealing it.”

Bumblebee was learning quickly that Prowl liked sarcasm and sass, which meant Bumblebee was going to like him.

“Are you even allowed to have a bike on campus?”

Prowl started the motorcycle up, revving it a few times.

“You are if you’re not a freshman. You can also have a car but,” he shrugged, “cars aren’t my style. Too big and too expensive.”

He put his sunglasses back on and put the visor down, lifting his foot and slowly rolling away.

“See you around, Bumblebee.” Prowl called as he roared down the street. Bumblebee watched him go with a stupid grin on his face, his earlier thoughts repeating themselves. Just when Bumblebee thought he couldn’t get any cooler…

[][][][][]

Bumblebee found out from a classmate that the football team practiced on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Not wanting to wait until the first game to find out how good (or bad) their team was, he made his way to the stadium on Tuesday night. He had been looking forward to college football since he had gotten accepted to the university. He didn’t care for the game itself, but the hype and atmosphere at the games made up for his lack of interest.

As he watched the players run drills, he determined two things. They were all big and beefy—that had to count for something—and they all seemed to know what they were doing. When practice was over, the players headed to the locker room to shower off, except for one player that stayed behind to pick up the equipment. Bumblebee figured since he was there, he might as well help, so he headed down to the field.

“Hey, need some help?” He called. The giant player turned around, shaking his shaggy sandy hair out of his eyes.

“Yeah sure, why not.” The player said with a smile. Their combine efforts had the field cleaned up in no time.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.” The player said. “You new?” Bumblebee nodded, handing him the last football.

“Yeah I’m a freshman this year. My name is Bumblebee.”

“I’m Bulkhead. I’m a Junior, so maybe I’ll see you around sometime.” The player said, extending a huge hand and engulfing Bumblebee’s as they shook.

“Thanks for the help, Bumblebee.” Bulkhead said, waving goodbye as he headed into the locker room. Bumblebee turned to go as well but stopped when Bulkhead called his name again.

“You doing anything tomorrow night?” He asked. Bumblebee shook his head. He didn’t even have any homework yet and probably wouldn’t have any until the end of the week.

“Come by classroom 305 in the south building tomorrow around 7. Trust me, it’ll be fun.”

Bulkhead then disappeared behind the locker room door, leaving Bumblebee to mull it over.

[][][][][]

The following evening, Bumblebee found himself standing outside classroom 305. It was dark inside but he could hear people talking, so he knocked on the door. The talking stopped and then the door opened, revealing Bulkhead (who filled basically the entire door frame).

“Hey, you made it!” Bulkhead said, pulling Bumblebee inside. The lights clicked on and Bumblebee realized that there were two other people in the room. Sitting on the floor in front of the projector screen, which had a paused movie on it, was a guy who looked to be about Bulkhead’s age. He had short brown hair and bright blue eyes, and he smiled at Bumblebee.

“Who’s this, Bulk?” The guy asked, standing up. Bumblebee stared up at him. He was tall… and built. Was everyone in this school hot?? Greasers, football players, and (from the looks of this guy’s camo pants and tan boots) ROTC cadets… how was Bumblebee expected to cope?

“This is Bumblebee, the guy who helped me clean up the field yesterday. I invited him to come tonight.” Bulkhead said.

Tall guy held his hand out for Bumblebee to shake. Bumblebee liked this campus already; everyone he had met so far had good manners (well, except Prowl…)

“I’m Optimus. I’m Bulkhead’s roommate.”

Bumblebee introduced himself and then looked at the person sitting behind the desk. He was obviously a professor, because 1. he was sitting behind the desk in the rolling chair and 2. the grey military haircut and stern expression gave him away.

“That’s Professor Ratchet.” Bulkhead said, closing the door and sitting back down on the floor. Optimus joined him after grabbing an extra pillow for Bumblebee to sit on.

“He’s the history professor for the upperclassmen, and this is his classroom. He’s been good to me and Optimus since our freshman year, so we hang around here a lot.”

Bumblebee smiled at the Professor.

“Nice to meet you, Professor.”

Ratchet gave him a wry smile.

“Welcome to the party, kid.”

The movie started back up and snacks were passed to Bumblebee. The movie was a comedy and Bumblebee laughed long and hard at most of the jokes, as did Bulkhead. Optimus seemed a little shy and laughed a lot quieter, and Ratchet only chuckled sometimes, mostly just smiling at the jokes.

When it was over, Bulkhead and Optimus offered to walk Bumblebee back to his dorm.

“It’s easy to get lost around campus at night.” Optimus said. They all waved goodbye to Professor Ratchet and left, heading downstairs.

“I live in block A.” Bumblebee said, making Bulkhead and Optimus look at each other.

“What a coincidence! We live there too, but we live up on floor 3 where all the Juniors live.” Bulkhead said, sliding his key card and opening the building door. There were a lot of guys milling around the common room and a few of them greeted Optimus and Bulkhead.

“What’s your roommate like?” Optimus asked as they walked down the first floor corridor. Bumblebee shrugged.

“He didn’t say much, seemed to want to keep to himself. I do know his name is Wasp though.”

They reached Bumblebee’s door and they said goodbye to him, heading up the stairs to their own rooms. Bumblebee let himself in and found Wasp was also already back.

“Hey Wasp.” He said, throwing his bag at the foot of his bed. The green haired teen looked up from his laptop and said ‘hey’ quietly before going back to what he was doing. Bumblebee shrugged. That was progress. He changed into his sleeping clothes and flopped on the bed. What a hectic first two days…

[][][][][]

Several days passed and Bumblebee got to be better friends with Bulkhead and Optimus. He even got more than 4 words out of Wasp one day. His mind frequently brought up the subject of Prowl and his motorcycle (and standoffish demeanor), but to be honest, Bumblebee wouldn’t even know where to look for him.

He decided to ask his new friend, Sari. She was in two of his classes and she knew a lot of people already for a freshman, but that was probably because her dad was the President of the school, and she had been around the campus for years now.

“Prowl… Tall, thin Hispanic guy? Rides a motorcycle and dresses like a greaser?” Sari said, making Bumblebee nod. She tapped her chin thoughtfully.

“Hmm, I don’t know much about him, but I do know he’s all about martial arts and stuff. Try the gymnasium. They’ve got a lot of multipurpose rooms, so he might be in one of those.”

When Bumblebee got a free period between his two classes, he found the gymnasium and went inside, checking each multipurpose room. After a bit of searching, he found Prowl.

It was weird seeing the other man in athletic gear, but it was even weirder to see he still had those snazzy shades on, even as he worked his way through a fast-paced form. It looked like Kung Fu, but Bumblebee had little experience with specific martial arts outside of Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies.

Bumblebee waited until Prowl was finished to say anything.

“Hey, Prowl.”

Prowl turned around, arching an eyebrow as he wiped a towel over his neck.

“You stalking me, Bumblebee?” He said, his voice amused. Bumblebee blushed.

“N-no! I just came to…” He paused, realizing what he was about to say and blushed harder, “… see what you were doing later tonight.” He put his head in his hand, well and thoroughly embarrassed until he heard Prowl chuckle.

“Nothing right now. Why? Do you have something in mind?”

Bumblebee looked up to see Prowl had taken off his sunglasses to wipe his face. The younger man swallowed.

“Uh yeah, I met some cool dudes who have movie nights, and they said it was alright if I brought someone along… Wanna come?”

Prowl raised his eyebrow again—and Bumblebee wished he’d stop doing that because he was really starting to like it—before doing his funny head bob nod.

“Yeah sure, I’ll go, but only because I’ve got nothing else to do.”

That was a yes no matter how you took it, so Bumblebee smiled.

“Awesome! It’s in classroom 305 in the south building. 7 o’clock tonight.”

Prowl nodded.

“I’ll be there.”

True to his word, Prowl was ‘there’, if not a bit late. They paused the movie to let him in, and he stopped short in the doorway when he spotted Ratchet.

“What’s the matter, Prowl?” Bumblebee said, cracking a smile. “You’re not scared of professors, are you?”

“Scared? No. Trying to avoid seeing them outside of class? Yes.” Prowl said. Ratchet chuckled.

“You’re either coming in and watching the movie or you’re heading back out. What’s it gonna be, Danny Zuko?” Ratchet said, looking at Prowl’s clothes with a smile. Prowl stiffened before striding confidently into the room. He sat down on the offered pillow next to Bumblebee on the floor, tossing Ratchet a look that basically said ‘there’.

“Good to see you, Prowl.” Optimus said. Bumblebee blinked at him.

“You guys know each other?”

Prowl nodded.

“We had the same core classes freshman year. Now we just live in the same dorm building.”

Bumblebee did some more blinking.

“You live in block A, too??”

Prowl looked at him, eyes hidden behind his sunglasses.

“I’m assuming you live there as well?”

All four men looked around at one another. Well then, that was certainly interesting.

Prowl and Bumblebee continued to meet up with Optimus and Bulkhead in the following weeks. Sometimes they went out for a burger and fries, or they just hung out around campus.

Ratchet watched the four men try and play charades one night, shaking his head and laughing. He started the year with just two kids to look after, now it looks like he had four. Not that he was complaining… They were good kids and he didn’t mind in the least.


End file.
